Teamwork

Teamwork

Based on what we have learned in this course, our team has reached an agreement of the five crucial elements that we consider are important in building an effective team. They are Communication, Collaboration, Flexibility, Compromising and Conflict Resolution. These tools not only will help us to growth as a team but also as individual. Here are the justifications of these five elements.

Communication is one crucial element needed in teamwork. Whether we are at school or in the office, effective communication early on among the members is vital before working on project because it will help the team to minimize any conflicts that might arise later on. Effective communication is also being able to have an open and honest discussion with the team players about being trustworthy. Whether it is verbal or non-verbal we must give the team members a chance to speak and to be heard. Open communication will help each team member willingly share his or her suggestions, ideas and opinions. Good communication enables the team members to bring their knowledge and experience to the team. As a team, it is essential to involve and inform the team members of all unexpected changes. If conflicts are raised, they should be addressed immediately.

To have a successful communication within the team, we need to set up ground rules that the team will agree to follow and accept. We should create ground rules to provide simplicity and structure to each member to ensure that we all on the same page. The purpose of setting ground rules for the team is to assist individual members to determine how he or she interacts and communicates with other team members. Ground rules help to prevent misunderstanding and disagreements. These guidelines will help the team to listen, speak, and treat each other respectfully. Having ground rules will provide each team member the clarity about his or her assignments and what it is expected of them. Ground rules are important because it encourages responsibility and affirm team relationship. In addition, providing and receiving feedback is good practice in ground rules. Feedback will encourage and motivate each team member to improve his or her weakness and build their own strength. It also helps to monitor the progress of each team member's function. When giving or receiving feedback, team members should keep in minds that we should not attack or be defensive.

Being able to have effective communication is not the only thing that is vital, knowing how to communicate is just as crucial. Before communicating with the team members, one must first consider the tone usage and body language. The tone and body language can be deceiving. If the receiver does not know the speaker's purpose, he or she might receive the message in a negative manner. Though it does not always happen; nonetheless, we need to think about how and what we are going to say before convening our message with others. We should convey our message clearly and without using negativity. Sometimes, what we say does not always necessary come out the right way. The person who receives the message does not realize that it was not the communicator's intention to be rule; however, the receiver will interpret the message in a negative way and responded negatively. This will cause conflict within the team. When communicate with the team non-verbally, we should do it in the same respectable manner as we are speaking with them verbally.

Communicating is only one part of the element. Listening is the other part and is equally just as important. When the team members speak, we should direct our attention to them. When someone speaks, it is very rude to have side bar conversation. We should not be doing other things that do not pertain to the meeting. Moreover, we should not be judgmental because not everyone has perfect communication skill. Some are better than others; however, we should be patience and be supportive with our team.

When a team has successful communication, everything goes smoothly. It allows the team to accomplish the task more rapidly and everyone is pleased with the results. However, when there is miscommunication between the team members, conflict arise. Rather than solving the problems, we start putting blame on each other and this further escalated the conflict. We get angry with each other and the team project will be jeopardized because of the conflict. The team should focus on the problem and not focus on who is to blame. We should not attack each other. Instead we should collaborate to find the cause of the problem and come up with a solution to resolve it.

Whenever a group of people desire to be successful, whether the goal is long-term or short-term, one of the main things to take into consideration is collaboration. We must be willing to integrate everyone's input, in order to obtain a victorious result, which